SHIPWRECKED

Exploring the wide world, pixies get into a bundle of troubles in this outing for readers already successfully into chapter books.

In this first of a series previously published in the UK, Titch and Mitch are pixie brothers, Titch the eldest by a year and a bit the braver of the pair. They pack up a little food and head off on a series of adventures that take them away from the safe haven of Pixie Valley and out into the human world where they are kidnapped by a schoolboy, then escape on a boat that crashes on an island. There they are befriended by a series of talking animals and rescue a fairy caught in a shrub. She provides them with a magical flying bicycle that they use to visit her, provide some dental services to a mouse-sized dragon and rescue a very smart turkey. Numerous detailed black-and-white sketches accompany these brief episodes and nicely break up text-heavy pages. Character development is nearly nonexistent, and while the brief adventures provide a mild amount of excitement, their superficiality sharply limits the potential impact. Magical elements seem flat and unimaginative. There is no conclusion, merely an abrupt end, where the next tale will presumably begin.

This uninspired offering fails to compete well with other fantasies for young readers.